Imagination is one of the most distinctive characteristics of human thought. The supreme powers of flexibility, supposition and inventiveness that are its hallmarks, whether in science, technology, ...
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Imagination is one of the most distinctive characteristics of human thought. The supreme powers of flexibility, supposition and inventiveness that are its hallmarks, whether in science, technology, business or the visual, literary and performing arts, are highly prized in contemporary societies. Yet in the fields of psychology and cognitive science, where we might expect to find the topic ‘centre-stage’, there has been comparatively little work. This volume addresses this omission by bringing together the theories and methods of these disciplines with other perspectives offering important insights into the imagination. The fifteen chapters address key questions about the imaginative workings of the mind, including how the capacity for imagination evolved, how it is expressed and what roles it plays in children’s thinking, what psychological processes and brain mechanisms are involved, and how imagination operates in universal cultural phenomena such as music, fiction and religion, which are both the fruits of and the ‘fuel’ for imaginative minds. The exceptional interdisciplinary scope of the volume, and its exploration and juxtaposition of different forms of imaginative cognition, offer an engaging and innovative take on the topic, bringing together approaches from psychology, cognitive science, anthropology and evolutionary studies with philosophy and the humanities. The contributors demonstrate their own imaginative flair in a varied collection of essays about this most elusive and special human capacity.Less

Imaginative Minds

Published in print: 2007-12-27

Imagination is one of the most distinctive characteristics of human thought. The supreme powers of flexibility, supposition and inventiveness that are its hallmarks, whether in science, technology, business or the visual, literary and performing arts, are highly prized in contemporary societies. Yet in the fields of psychology and cognitive science, where we might expect to find the topic ‘centre-stage’, there has been comparatively little work. This volume addresses this omission by bringing together the theories and methods of these disciplines with other perspectives offering important insights into the imagination. The fifteen chapters address key questions about the imaginative workings of the mind, including how the capacity for imagination evolved, how it is expressed and what roles it plays in children’s thinking, what psychological processes and brain mechanisms are involved, and how imagination operates in universal cultural phenomena such as music, fiction and religion, which are both the fruits of and the ‘fuel’ for imaginative minds. The exceptional interdisciplinary scope of the volume, and its exploration and juxtaposition of different forms of imaginative cognition, offer an engaging and innovative take on the topic, bringing together approaches from psychology, cognitive science, anthropology and evolutionary studies with philosophy and the humanities. The contributors demonstrate their own imaginative flair in a varied collection of essays about this most elusive and special human capacity.

This final chapter epitomizes some of the material presented in the bulk of the text under headings which reflect the introductory section by consisting of declaratory sentences. This chapter aims to ...
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This final chapter epitomizes some of the material presented in the bulk of the text under headings which reflect the introductory section by consisting of declaratory sentences. This chapter aims to provide a framework for discussion that will help to move the field into the next stage of evolutionary studies.Less

Epitome

Graham Bell

Published in print: 2007-12-20

This final chapter epitomizes some of the material presented in the bulk of the text under headings which reflect the introductory section by consisting of declaratory sentences. This chapter aims to provide a framework for discussion that will help to move the field into the next stage of evolutionary studies.

This chapter examines the emergence of taxic paleobiology during the early 1980s, which was advocated by its proponents as a solution to the problem of independent levels of selection within the ...
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This chapter examines the emergence of taxic paleobiology during the early 1980s, which was advocated by its proponents as a solution to the problem of independent levels of selection within the evolutionary process. It describes how the development of taxic paleobiology affected the paleobiology/neontology interface during the 1980s and explains the principal differences between neontology and paleobiology. The analysis reveals that though taxic methods quickly became influential among paleontologists, they had little impact in evolutionary studies and that the rise of taxic methods did not seem to promote closer collaboration across disciplines.Less

Taxic Paleobiology and the Pursuit of a Unified Evolutionary Theory

Todd A. Grantham

Published in print: 2009-06-15

This chapter examines the emergence of taxic paleobiology during the early 1980s, which was advocated by its proponents as a solution to the problem of independent levels of selection within the evolutionary process. It describes how the development of taxic paleobiology affected the paleobiology/neontology interface during the 1980s and explains the principal differences between neontology and paleobiology. The analysis reveals that though taxic methods quickly became influential among paleontologists, they had little impact in evolutionary studies and that the rise of taxic methods did not seem to promote closer collaboration across disciplines.

This chapter suggests that evolutionary studies of religion are vital for understanding the proliferation, patterns, and logic of current trends in terrorist activity. It first examines the role of ...
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This chapter suggests that evolutionary studies of religion are vital for understanding the proliferation, patterns, and logic of current trends in terrorist activity. It first examines the role of religion in causing, motivating, and facilitating terrorism. It then presents recent work on the evolution of religion and shows how this research can help us understand elements of terrorism and provide important insights that can benefit the development of antiterrorist policies. The chapter concludes with future research questions and policy implications derived from the evolutionary approach.Less

Militants and Martyrs : Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion and Terrorism

Richard SosisCandace S. Alcorta

Published in print: 2008-01-02

This chapter suggests that evolutionary studies of religion are vital for understanding the proliferation, patterns, and logic of current trends in terrorist activity. It first examines the role of religion in causing, motivating, and facilitating terrorism. It then presents recent work on the evolution of religion and shows how this research can help us understand elements of terrorism and provide important insights that can benefit the development of antiterrorist policies. The chapter concludes with future research questions and policy implications derived from the evolutionary approach.

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the phylogeny and evolution of the members of phylum Mollusca. It explains that the Mollusca are the second largest phylum ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the phylogeny and evolution of the members of phylum Mollusca. It explains that the Mollusca are the second largest phylum of animals, with about 200,000 living species and that they have a remarkable fossil record reaching back to the earliest Cambrian period. This book represents the works of thirty-six different contributors from eleven countries and it reflects the globalization of molluscan evolutionary studies that has taken place during the last fifty years.Less

Molluscan Evolution and Phylogeny : An Introduction

winson F. PonderDavid R. Lindberg

Published in print: 2008-03-25

This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about the phylogeny and evolution of the members of phylum Mollusca. It explains that the Mollusca are the second largest phylum of animals, with about 200,000 living species and that they have a remarkable fossil record reaching back to the earliest Cambrian period. This book represents the works of thirty-six different contributors from eleven countries and it reflects the globalization of molluscan evolutionary studies that has taken place during the last fifty years.

Chimpanzees, as humans’ closest living primate relatives, offer an important point of comparison for evolutionary studies. As in humans (but not macaques), the chimpanzee mirror system shows a ...
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Chimpanzees, as humans’ closest living primate relatives, offer an important point of comparison for evolutionary studies. As in humans (but not macaques), the chimpanzee mirror system shows a substantial response to observed intransitive actions; however, as in macaques (but not in humans), the neural response to observed action is mostly frontally focused in chimpanzees. These differences in functional sensitivity are paralleled by differences in white matter connectivity, as there is greater temporal and parietal connectivity in chimpanzees, and particularly in humans, than in macaques, as well as an extension of the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, which connects the frontal and parietal mirror regions, into the more anterior regions of the inferior frontal gyrus, especially in the human right hemisphere. Based on these results, a theoretical model involving increased selection pressure for understanding and (re-)producing own and others’ actions at finer levels of methodological detail is proposed.Less

The chimpanzee mirror system and the evolution of frontoparietal circuits for action observation and social learning

Erin E. HechtLisa Parr

Published in print: 2015-10-01

Chimpanzees, as humans’ closest living primate relatives, offer an important point of comparison for evolutionary studies. As in humans (but not macaques), the chimpanzee mirror system shows a substantial response to observed intransitive actions; however, as in macaques (but not in humans), the neural response to observed action is mostly frontally focused in chimpanzees. These differences in functional sensitivity are paralleled by differences in white matter connectivity, as there is greater temporal and parietal connectivity in chimpanzees, and particularly in humans, than in macaques, as well as an extension of the third branch of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, which connects the frontal and parietal mirror regions, into the more anterior regions of the inferior frontal gyrus, especially in the human right hemisphere. Based on these results, a theoretical model involving increased selection pressure for understanding and (re-)producing own and others’ actions at finer levels of methodological detail is proposed.

Literary creation is already consilient with science, for works of art are experiments: artists’ diverse experiments with new combinations of experience audiences will have as they respond. Literary ...
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Literary creation is already consilient with science, for works of art are experiments: artists’ diverse experiments with new combinations of experience audiences will have as they respond. Literary explanation should also be consilient with science. Evolution and cognition can benefit literary criticism, but their relevance will, and should, vary enormously from work to work and from question to critical question. The author proposes a multilevel explanatory model for literary works and effects: the global, the human, the local, the individual, the particular, and the detail. This structure can incorporate evolution and cognition flexibly, as they prove relevant to the questions being asked, without imposing a priori answers. To show the flexibility of the model, the author analyzes three literary examples, three experiments with readers’ experience short enough to consider and contrast: two paired and opposed sonnets by Shakespeare, and a two-page 2011 comic by Art Spiegelman.Less

Brian Boyd

Published in print: 2016-08-01

Literary creation is already consilient with science, for works of art are experiments: artists’ diverse experiments with new combinations of experience audiences will have as they respond. Literary explanation should also be consilient with science. Evolution and cognition can benefit literary criticism, but their relevance will, and should, vary enormously from work to work and from question to critical question. The author proposes a multilevel explanatory model for literary works and effects: the global, the human, the local, the individual, the particular, and the detail. This structure can incorporate evolution and cognition flexibly, as they prove relevant to the questions being asked, without imposing a priori answers. To show the flexibility of the model, the author analyzes three literary examples, three experiments with readers’ experience short enough to consider and contrast: two paired and opposed sonnets by Shakespeare, and a two-page 2011 comic by Art Spiegelman.